The Crabby Crawfish - A Book of One-shots

R / My Psychic Little Sister

Renegades one-shot

Dedicated to @GiGi_The_Author , my sister, who gave me this title

"Genissa?" Avery asked her. "How long until dinner is ready?"

Genissa smiled at her little sister. Avery had soft, tan skin that contrasted sharply with Genissa's overly pale complexion, and brown pigtails that made her even cuter. "About five minutes. Come, sit over there on the chair. You can keep me company while the food is cooking." 

"I love you, Genissa." 

She felt her heart crack. Those words warmed her like nothing else could. Genissa felt like she was filled with a sweet gooey syrup that warmed her to the bone. It was so much different from the usual ice that gripped her heart. 

After their parents had split and Avery and Genissa were forgotten, Genissa had become the main supplier for her sister. She bought a cheap apartment full of spiders and cracking windows, and got a job at a local factory to pay for it. She worked herself to a pulp, but Avery was her light in the darkness. She wouldn't make her sister work; she would have a childhood free of pain.

But Avery was also a telepath.

It was hard to keep from being weirded out by her and even harder to shelter her from the horrors of life. But Avery knew that anything Genissa did was for her benefit only.

That was one of the good things about having a telepathic sibling. 

"Why are you so cold all the time, Genny?" Avery asked.

Genissa took a deep breath. "It's my superpower." She refused to think about her own pain in front of her beloved sister. 

Avery wasn't fooled, though. "There's more to it than that, Genissa. I'm not a child you can protect. Please, I can help you."

Genissa wanted to tell her sister everything about the world, but she couldn't make herself. Avery deserved the best life possible. "Please don't ask again, Avery. I want the best for you. There's a pain in this world that I don't want you to feel. Please."

Avery set her stubborn expression that Genissa was so familiar with. "Tell me. What is the pain in the world that I don't see?"

Genissa, before she could stop herself, felt the flood of memories surround her. Her job at the factory, with people yelling at her. The tiring work of patching up the windows with ice. Reminding the apartment supervisor to pay their water bills as he promised. Her defending herself from villain gangs as she came home from work. Her watching screaming civilians run from a burning building. Her reliving the battle for Gatlon, full of death. Her watching her mother and father divorce and shove their daughters out of their lives.  Her enduring the taunts she got daily at the factory. Genissa trying to keep her sister protected from all the hate directed toward them.

"Genissa, why? I loved you, and you kept this from me! How?" Avery screamed. 

Genissa took a few steps back. "I'm sorry," she said through sobs, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you, more than anything. I didn't want you to feel pain until you had to. I wanted your life to be as good as possible. I never intended to hurt you, Avery. Please. I love you..."

But her sister wasn't listening. She launched herself at Genissa and scratched her arms. The red blood was a dark shade against her papery-white skin. She prayed that her sister would use her telepathy to prove that she, in fact, was telling the truth, but Avery didn't seem to care what Genissa was thinking.

"How could you? I'm not a caged bird you can protect! I'm a strong person and I can handle this myself! I trusted you, Genissa! I trusted you!"

Genissa felt her anger rise up inside her. "Avery, I wanted you to be happy. I'm sorry, truly, that you don't understand."

Genissa screamed and felt her ice superpower rise up inside her. It cooled her burning thoughts, until...

She opened her eyes.

Her sister was pierced through the heart with a crystal-clear dagger. The ice spread from the wound, encasing the young girl in a frostbiting snowy glass.

"No! Avery!" she screamed. "No! I didn't mean it! Please, please, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! No!"

She tried to stop the flow of ice around her sister's body, but her touch made it flow faster. She stepped back from Avery as the ice covered all but her mouth.

"I... hate... you..." she choked out, spitting blood that dripped onto the ice, melting it in crimson spots. The ice encrusted her lips and they did not move again.

Genissa felt her face cover in hot tears before they froze.

Her heart froze over. She could picture the warm, beating, blood-red organ freeze over with a sheen of solid water. At first, the casing was fragile, able to break at any moment, but soon it became stronger and less brittle.

She was not ever going to be weak again.

She would not ever make a mistake again.

She would not ever let someone into her heart again.

She was Frostbite, and she was not going to shatter.